Ballack left out of latest Germany squad
Reuters - Thursday 12 May 2011, 14:33
BERLIN - Germany midfielder Marco Reus
could make his debut after winning a call-up to their squad on
Thursday for this month's Uruguay friendly and their Euro 2012
qualifiers in June with captain Michael Ballack again absent.
Germany coach Joachim Low recalled midfielder Simon Rolfes
for the three games but again opted not to pick experienced
playmaker Ballack whose international career seems all but over.
"Michael is not nominated for the coming three games. The
decision was discussed with him. We had been in constant contact
and we had a meeting in late March as well," Low said in a
statement.
The 21-year-old Reus has scored 10 times this season helping
to give relegation-threatened Borussia Moenchengladbach a chance
of holding on to their Bundesliga status.
"Obviously I am very honoured and proud to finally be part
of the team," Reus told reporters.
He has not yet made his debut for the senior team after
twice being called up for friendly games last year but failing
on both occasions to make the team due to injuries that forced
him to pull out prior to the matches.
"Marco has had an interesting development and (has got) good
prospects," said Low. "He deserved a call-up after playing very
well in the past weeks and being very dangerous up front."
Low decided not to call up central defender Per Mertesacker
to give him time to recover from minor injuries and must cope
without defender Jerome Boateng who is still injured.
Germany host Uruguay on May 29 - a rematch of their 2010
World Cup third-place play-off - before travelling to Austria
and Azerbaijan for their Euro qualifiers on June 3 and 7.
Germany top Group A with 15 points from five games, ahead of
Belgium who have 10 having played a game more, and Turkey with
nine in the battle to reach the finals in Poland and Ukraine.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Schalke 04), Rene Adler (Bayer
Leverkusen), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen).
Defenders: Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Holger Badstuber
(Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (VfL Wolfsburg), Mats Hummels
(Borussia Dortmund), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund),
Dennis Aogo (Hamburg SV), Christian Traesch (VfB Stuttgart).
Midfielders: Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Mario Goetze (Borussia
Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern
Munich), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger
(Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Lukas Podolski
(Cologne), Marco Reus (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Simon Rolfes
(Bayer Leverkusen), Andre Schuerrle (Mainz 05).
Forwards: Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose (both Bayern Munich).